LAST UPDATE | 10 Dec 2024

A REPORT INTO the Peter McVerry Trust has found “significant failings in governance, financial management and conflict of interest handling” at the charity.

The Approved Housing Bodies Regulatory Authority (AHBRA) today published the report of independent inspectors appointed to investigate the housing and homelessness charity.

The organisation is required to undergo an intensive oversight and monitoring programme as a result of the findings, the housing regulator said.

The objective of the investigation was to ascertain the charity’s compliance with the regulations for Approved Housing Bodies.

Approved housing bodies are independent non-profit making organisations that provide rented housing and in some cases specialist housing, such as for older people or homeless people.

A statement from Fergal O’Leary, CEO of AHBRA, said the report highlights “serious failings in governance, financial management, and conflict of interest handling” within the Peter McVerry Trust (PMVT).

“These failings represent significant breaches of AHBRA’s regulatory standards for Approved Housing Bodies and underline the urgent need for robust reforms within PMVT,” O’Leary said.

“PMVT has acknowledged the seriousness of the findings and has committed to undertaking a comprehensive programme of corrective actions to address the deficiencies.

“Building on actions taken to date, the PMVT will now implement reforms which are designed to ensure full compliance with regulatory standards.”

O’Leary added that an independent expert reporting to AHBRA will oversee and verify the progress of these reforms over the next six to nine months to ensure their effectiveness.

The regulator will closely monitor this work.

“As a result, AHBRA is not proposing to use its enforcement powers at this stage, but this will be kept under review,” O’Leary said.

He added: “It is important to emphasise that responsibility for addressing these deficiencies lies solely with the PMVT.

“While AHBRA will exercise intensive oversight and monitoring to ensure the necessary changes are made, accountability for implementing these reforms remains with the PMVT Board and management.”

In a statement to The Journal, the Peter McVerry Trust said that it acknowledges its “overall responsibility and deeply regrets what transpired as outlined in the report.

“It is also of particular regret that matters were kept from the Board by persons who should have acted otherwise.”

The charity said that since mid-2023, the operations of the trust are “very different” following intensive work.

“The Trust will continue to work closely with AHBRA, and the Charities Regulator, to ensure that it meets their expectations,” it said.

The organisation was established in 1983 by Father Peter McVerry, but later became a trust. In 2005, it was renamed the Peter McVerry Trust, having formerly been named Arrupe Society.

Findings

In the report, independent assessors say they have “low confidence” in the accuracy of the Trust’s balance sheet and identified further issues in the accuracy of its property register.

They have “not been able to confirm who held ultimate responsibility” for the company’s fixed asset register and its composition”, despite interviewing board members and senior members of the Trust’s executive.

The fixed asset register covers tangible property or equipment in long-term use, including buildings, computer equipment and vehicles.

The report also found dozens of potential duplicate entries of properties on the register – at one point during the inspection assessors counted as many as 37.

The result of this was that it “overstated both fixed assets and liabilities” for the Trust. This amounted to overstating net assets by an amount of €12.6m-€14.4m, however the report noted that further work was needed to determine the final impact on the balance sheet.

They also found that 33 properties were identified as “potentially omitted” from the register of fixed assets.

The investigation that informed the report was conducted from 1 October 2023 to 30 May 2024 and includes issues arising between 1 January 2022 – when AHBRA’s relevant regulatory functions came into effect – and 31 August 2023, the regulator said.

The housing regulator said in September of last year that it was appointing inspectors to conduct a statutory investigation of the charity after financial concerns were raised.

A spokesperson told The Journal at the time that it “identified concerns in relation to the organisation” having first been notified of a number of “financial and governance” issues by the charity in July.

When contacted in September 2023, the Peter McVerry Trust said it contacted AHBRA because of “significant cashflow issues” and has been engaging with AHBRA since then.

In February of this year, Niall Mulligan was appointed the new CEO of the trust after the resignation of his predecessor, Francis Doherty. Doherty claimed in a resignation letter that the charity’s board had made his position “untenable”. 

Includes reporting by Emma Hickey